


libertine

by becuille



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Abandonment, Ficlet, Hair Braiding, M/M, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 08:33:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13477671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/becuille/pseuds/becuille
Summary: “I've added something to remember me by.”“Why would I need to remember you?” Thor asks, already knowing the likely answer, but Loki is already out the door. He didn't even hear his footsteps. Thor twists the braid between his fingers, pulling it so he can see.Loki has taken a lock of his own raven black hair and entwined it with his own. It's shinier than his, better kept perhaps. His golden hair almost looks like dull pieces of straw in comparison.





	libertine

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/MovieDetails/comments/7slzqi/in_avengers_age_of_ultron_and_part_of_ragnarok/

Loki enters without knocking as Thor is dressing. He leans against a chest of drawers, just observing him. Thor tightens his belt and then begins scooping his hair back away from his face. It's a futile exercise, it falls back into his eyes wildly. 

“You're an oaf. Come here.”

Thor heeds his order, and Loki pulls the disobeying section of hair back, tucking it behind his ear. His fingers get caught and it tugs at his scalp. 

“Don’t you ever use a comb, you beast,” Loki says.

“Almost never.” 

Loki begins to pilfer through a drawer to find one. He drags it through his hair not quite gently, but unhurried. 

It's been a long time since someone has treated him like this. After Frigga, after Jane, only the rare maiden had been allowed intimacy like this with him, hardly ever touching him so familiarly. 

“You need to shave, too.”

“I don't quite trust you with a razor to my throat, brother.”

Loki huffs out a breath through his nose, not quite a laugh. He's probably amusing himself imagining himself covered in Thor’s blood.

Thor hears a snip from behind him, and hopes Loki hasn't taken to cutting off his hair. When they were younger, once, he had promised to just trim Thor’s hair for him. Unbeknownst to him, his brother had near enough scalped him, taking a chunk out of the back where he couldn't see. When Frigga had noticed, Thor took the blame, and he and Loki had laughed about it until the sun started to come up the next morning.

Loki’s hand stills, his handiwork complete.

“I've added something to remember me by.”

“Why would I need to remember you?” Thor asks, already knowing the likely answer, but Loki is already out the door. He didn't even hear his footsteps. Thor twists the braid between his fingers, pulling it so he can see. 

Loki has taken a lock of his own raven black hair and entwined it with his own. It's shinier than his, better kept perhaps. His golden hair almost looks like dull pieces of straw in comparison. 

He leaves it in all day, and the day after, and the one after that. No one mentions it in the hall for supper if they notice. Thor tells himself he’ll take it out when Loki returns, soon. 

He bathes and keeps his braid out of the water until wisps of it start to come loose and he's shedding little pieces of Loki everywhere he goes. He tries to fix it, but his clumsy touch makes it worse, and eventually it falls to pieces. Thor gathers what he has left of his brother and tucks it away in a box in his room, next to a book of his mother’s and ring of his father’s. 

Long after, maybe years, it feels longer, Loki returns. 

Thor says little to him, but visits him the night of his homecoming. He silently pushes Loki to sit on his bed, despite his protests and crude insinuations. He clips a lock of his own hair, longer now than it was when he left, but Loki’s is equally so. 

His rough fingers comb haphazardly through Loki’s dark mane, tugging a little harder than what is necessary. He ties the blond hair as tight as he can close to Loki’s scalp, hoping he can never undo it. He braids the strands quickly and untidily; he doesn't possess Loki’s slim fingers and seemingly unending patience for small, intricate work.

It's like braiding rope, he thinks, and easier on another person. His father taught them both how when they were small. He might laugh if he saw him now. 

Thor finishes it and lets the braid fall through his fingers. 

Loki turns to him, dragging him down by his own hair and kisses him harshly, hungry, and Thor returns it.

Love is ugly. Pain and loss and loneliness is ugly. So Thor tries to crush and envelop him, punishing him for his absence. 

Thor always waits for him. Loki had tied a tight knot around his heart long ago that strings them together. So Thor fucks him like he could break whatever it is between them and free him and Loki laughs at him between choked breaths, at his futile use of brute strength, like he always does. 

The next morning, Loki’s bed is long cold and his brother is gone. A small wispy braid lies tucked behind Thor’s ear.


End file.
